Kaleidoscope of colours, life values in new Smurfs village

MAGICAL WORLD: Smurfette (Dani Devito) and her friends, Clumsy Smurf (Jack McBrayer), Hefty Smurf (Joe Manganiello) and Brainy Smurf (Danny Pudi), meet an assortment of characters in their quest in the Forbidden Forest

THE Lost Village is a beautiful and colourful little world where the imagination can run free.

Those who watched the cartoon series in the ’80s might find a sense of nostalgia pull at the heart strings.

The story of the Smurfs and their mystical world started as a Belgian comic based on a fictional colony of small blue humanoids who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. Pierre Culliford first wrote the Smurf comics in 1958 where they were known as Les Schtroumpfs, and in Dutch: De Smurfen.

Now, mix in a bit of the visual feats from a hit film like Avatar (2009) with the imaginings and pictures from Cullford’s mind and you have the new Smurfs: The Lost Village.

This new film stays closer to the original comic-book series but it is also overloaded with cool and bright CGI and latest animation technology. This time Smurfs is touching on something new and taking on gender issues. The Smurfs learn and understand the difference between boy and girl Smurfs and how to navigate the new village. There were moments when the adult Smurf fan – me – wanted to cringe, but fortunately The Lost Village found its own path and became a sweet story about girl power.

The Smurfs live in a remote village that’s hidden from their rival, Gargamel (Rainn Wilson). Led by Papa Smurf (Mandy Patinkin), the blue boys are named by their characteristics, so there is Clumsy Smurf (Jack McBrayer), Hefty Smurf (Joe Manganiello), Brainy Smurf (Danny Pudi) and Nosey Smurf.

The lone female of the bunch is named Smurfette (Demi Lovato). Her backstory is that she was created by Gargamel from blue clay to infiltrate the Smurfs and lead him to their secret home. But Papa Smurf turned Smurfette into a “real” Smurf.

Now Smurfette needs to find out what kind of Smurf she is. When she and her pals Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty find a map to a Lost Village in the Forbidden Forest, it leads to the discovery of one of the biggest secrets in Smurfdom. Meanwhile, Gargamel tries to capture them.

For fans of the iconic Smurf world it will satisfy, and be a nice walk down memory lane. For the little ones it will be a new and happy world they can dream of.  There is a PG rating so expect some mild action, some cheeky humour and lots of bouncy blue shenanigans.